ECI: Europe risks pogroms against Jews unless the tide of modern blood libels is thwarted in time
Brussels, 6 August, 2025 – The intense media campaign to discredit Israel and accuse its defense forces of committing genocide and other war crimes in Gaza is causing an unprecedented wave of antisemitism across Europe and across the world, ECI Founding Director Tomas Sandell said on Wednesday. From Athens to Barcelona, Israeli tourists and European Jews are being targeted in connection with the ongoing Israeli military operation in Gaza to free the remaining Israeli hostages and dismantle the Hamas terrorist organization.
Expressing his grave concern over the growing number of antisemitic incidents in Europe in recent weeks, Sandell warned that “unless our European political leaders and media outlets come to their senses and stop spreading modern blood libels by insinuating that Israel is deliberately causing mass starvation in Gaza, we may soon see outright pogroms on the streets of Europe. In the US there have already been instances where innocent Jews have been killed on the streets while the perpetrators have shouted ‘Free Palestine.’
Recent antisemitic incidents in Europe include: Israeli teens attacked in Rhodes by pro-Palestinian activists; a group of Jewish teenagers from France expelled from a departing flight in Barcelona for singing in Hebrew; two Israeli musicians expelled from a restaurant in Vienna for speaking in Hebrew; Israeli youths being attacked by local gangs in Athens; an Israeli DJ canceled in Belgium; and shows by two British Jewish comedians dropped from the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. The list goes on.
Explaining the rationale behind the many incidents Sandell continues, “If you are constantly being fed with fabricated lies about the evil nature of the Jewish state, this will sooner or later lead to violence against individual Jews, since anti-Zionism is closely linked to antisemitism.”
This is nothing new but rather a repeat of the medieval blood libels. At the core of these blood libels were often the false accusation that claimed that Jews were responsible for the death of innocent children. The modern version of this blood libel now accuses the collective Jew – the State of Israel – of intentionally starving Palestinian children to death.
While national authorities by and large have condemned the recent spike in antisemitic hate crimes, the official rhetoric is gradually shifting against Israel. After the Israeli Foreign Ministry filed a complaint against the local authorities in Barcelona concerning the recent incident when Jewish teenagers from France were forcibly removed from an aircraft by a captain who called Israel ‘a terrorist state’, Spanish Minister for Transport Oscar Puente fired back by calling the French youth ‘Israeli brats’.
Recent statements by France and UK to threaten to recognize a Palestinian state in protest against the humanitarian crisis in Gaza also risk shifting the blame for the war in Gaza from Hamas to Israel and indirectly fuel antisemitic sentiments.
Sandell concludes, “In times like these our political leadership needs to stand firm and not give in to the growing hatred of Israel. Unless we take necessary action now, one day these blood libels may unleash a new wave of pogroms against Jews in Europe. Never again is now.”
Inga kommentarer:
Skicka en kommentar